Somerset band to perform in Pittsburgh band festival

March 31, 2011|By the DAILY AMERICAN

More bands, more music. That’s the plan for the eighth annual Three Rivers Community Band Festival in Pittsburgh, which will bring together three of the better community bands in western Pennsylvania, plus an all-new festival band.

The festival is scheduled for 2:30 to 5 p.m. April 9 at the Upper St. Clair Theater, which is located in Upper St. Clair High School, just beyond South Hills Village Shopping Center along Route 19 South. Theater doors open at 1:45 p.m. WQED-FM’s Jim Cunningham also returns this year as the program host. Admission is free. Contributions to support the festival are appreciated, but not required.

The 2011 festival band is made up of 70 musicians from 45 musical ensembles in Allegheny County and 10 other counties in the region. The band will perform selections under the baton of guest conductor Paul Gerlach, director of the CMU Kiltie Band and music director of the Allegheny Brass Band.

This year’s regional guest band will be the Somerset County Community Band. The band was started in 1989 to give area residents an opportunity to renew their interest in instrumental music. Dan Croft is the band’s founding director. Members of the band range in age from high school students to grandparents. In 2002 the band commissioned nationally known composer James Swearingen to create a work to honor the heroes of United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed near Shanksville. The band is an affiliate of Laurel Arts.

The festival was created in 2003 by the East Winds Symphonic Band. Established in 1981 with 24 members, the group now brings together more than 80 serious amateur musicians from all walks of life, primarily from the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. The band celebrated 29 years of bringing music to the Pittsburgh area this October. At the May 2009 Community Band Festival, the band was presented the Sousa Foundation Sudler Silver Scroll Award for 2008 for community band excellence.

Community Band South will again represent the Pittsburgh South Hills communities. This brass, woodwind and percussion band of more than 80 members is co-directed by Dean Streator, former teacher of instrumental music at Bethel Park High School, and James Bennett, retired director of bands and chairman of fine arts from the Upper St. Clair School District. A special feature of the band’s performance this year will be the world premier performance of “A Pittsburgh Suite — Songs of Mill and Mine,” a new six-movement piece commissioned by the band and written by renowned American band composer Pierre La Plante.

Festivalgoers are invited to enjoy free light refreshments after the concert as well as have an opportunity to meet and greet the musicians. For more information about the Three Rivers Community Band Festival, visit www.ewsb.org/festival online.